El Grande Circus de Coca-Cola

Pepe Hernandez and his cut-rate troupe of “circus” performers have folded their shabby big top after a successful Los Feliz run and taken up residence at the Colony Theatre in the glamorous Burbank Media Center. I missed their run at the Skylight Theatre but assume that the Ikea jokes and a larger dumpster for their dressing room are the major additions to the comedy hi-jinx.

Strange Eventful History

The Independent Shakespeare Company’s new play, Strange Eventful History is based on the British dynastic struggles which led up to and comprised The Wars of the Roses. The text is mostly Shakespeare, with a touch of Marlowe and a framing device devised by the company. If this sounds dry and academic, Strange Eventful History will convince you otherwise.

Sondheim on Sondheim

The latest revue featuring the music of Stephen Sondheim, Sondehim on Sondheim, receives its local premiere courtesy of International City Theatre (ICT). Produced in New York in 2010, the show featured a gifted cast of actor/singers and, most notably, occasioned the long-awaited return of Barbara Cook to a Broadway stage.

Uncle Vanya

Anton Chekhov is the poet of disenchantment, delusion, and despair. His characters luxuriate in their unrequited desires and petty complaints. Most of them feel helpless to escape the prison of their unhappiness. So why do we return to them again and again?

Abundance

"Abundance is a revisionist western that no one will confuse with the classics of John Ford and Howard Hawks," so wrote New York Times theater critic Frank Rich of the Big Apple debut of Beth Henley's 1988 play, "Abundance."

But before Rich wrote those apt words, and before its New York premiere, Abundance made its world debut at Costa Mesa's South Coast Repertory Theatre. Now, 25 years hence, Abundance, under the lucid direction of Martin Benson, is again being colorfully assayed on SCR's Segerstrom Stage.

Moby Dick

Choosing Herman Melville’s epic novel Moby-Dick as the basis for an opera is a daring gamble. And not because its all-male shipboard setting offers few opportunities for the romantic duets most people associate with opera. After all, Benjamin Britten successfully adapted another Melville tale to the operatic stage with Billy Budd. But Melville’s Billy Budd is a compact novella. Moby-Dick is a sprawling, messy, deliriously written masterpiece of obsession, philosophy, latent desires, the sea, religion, fear, death, and the day-to-day routine of hunting whales. As several film and stage adaptations prove, a dramatic adaptation, in any medium, is likely to feel like a Classics Illustrated version of the novel.

Bootycandy

Celebration Theatre christens its new performance venue with a high-powered production of Robert O’Hara’s Bootycandy. Less a conventional play than a series of riotous and ribald sketches centered on growing up gay and black, O’Hara laces his provocative comedy with a generous dose of undiluted acid.

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike at Center REP in Walnut Creek, California is an amazingly pleasurable experience in every imaginable way. From the moment one enters the Lesher Center for the Arts, everything is light, airy, friendly, efficient, and pleasant. Not even crusty old curmudgeons who can usually find some nit to pick to ruin evenings could whisper a discouraging word. Mark Anderson Phillips, the cast, and the entire design team have put together a delightful celebration of self-loathing, bitterness, low self-esteem, and longing for the return of a dying culture.

I'm Still Getting My Act Together and Taking It On the Road

While there are many musicals which can claim to have “changed someone’s life” in a personal way, it is a rare show that can justify its place as a catalyst in the ongoing struggle for equality. Gretchen Cryer and Nancy Ford’s show, I’m Getting My Act Together and Taking it on the Road is, undeniably, such a show. In 1978, the simple story of the show’s heroine putting together a new concert based on her real-life experiences as a single mother and artist focused attention on the question of womens' roles in society and the broader public debate about the difference between men and women. Cryer & Ford’s memorable songs pulled no punches, but they provided enough entertainment and emotional connection that the audience listened in a way they wouldn’t have with a more polemical piece.

Breathing Room

Mary Lou Newmark’s Breathing Room is a performance piece enjoying a world premiere production at the Greenway Court Theatre. Conceived in a symphonic style with four movements and a coda, Newmark’s poetic text is enlivened with elements of ritual, comedy, myth, and an intriguing aural landscape featuring the playwright on an electric violin.

Spotlight

50TH ANNUAL LOS ANGELES DRAMA CRITICS CIRCLE NOMINATIONS

50TH ANNUAL CELEBRATION

OF LOCAL THEATRE

BY LOS ANGELES DRAMA CRITICS CIRCLE

KICKS OFF WITH 2018 NOMINATIONS

February 15, 2019…Los Angeles…The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle (LADCC), which presented its first awards for excellence in Los Angeles, Orange County, and Ventura County a half-century ago, has begun the gala celebration of its 50th anniversary by announcing its nominations for the year 2018 (Dec. 1, 2017 – Nov. 30, 2018).

The LADCC is further thrilled to announce that this historic occasion will take place on Monday, April 8, 2019 at one of the region's most historic and beautiful theatres, Pasadena Playhouse, at 39 S. El Molino Avenue in Pasadena.

Although Pasadena Playhouse is hosting the LADCC Awards for the very first time, onstage host Wenzel Jonesof IMRU, the LGBTQI Radio News Magazine on KPFK 90.7, has served in that capacity numerous times, most recently in 2018. Noted local composer-conductor Christopher Raymond will serve in the capacity of musical director for the second consecutive year. The entire production will be in the hands of stage manager Heatherlynn Gonzalez, veteran of more than a decade's worth of LADCC service.

Standard general admission tickets are $40 and can be purchased at https://2019criticsawards.brownpapertickets.com/ (a small service fee applies) or at the door if available. All purchased tickets will be held at Will Call. The event will begin at 6:30 p.m. with a pre-show reception in the courtyard. The show will commence at 7:30 p.m. Nominees will receive instructions via email regarding how to claim complimentary tickets. Inquiries to: criticsawards2019@gmail.com.

One or more plaques will be presented in each of 18 categories. Seven special awards will also be presented.

The LADCC special award recipients are as follows:

The Margaret Harford Award for sustained excellence in theatre will be awarded to Sacred Fools Theater Company.

The Polly Warfield Award for an excellent season in a small to mid-size theatre will be awarded to Echo Theater Company.

The Ted Schmitt Award for the world premiere of an outstanding new play goes to Lauren Yee for Cambodian Rock Band, originally produced by South Coast Repertory.

The Kinetic Lighting Award for distinguished achievement in theatrical design goes to sound designer Robert Oriol.

Every effort has been made to ascertain proper credits for our nominees. We regret any errors or omissions. Any that come to our attention will be corrected on our LADCC website, in the event program, and (when applicable) on a recipient’s award plaque.

The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle was founded in 1969. It is dedicated to excellence in theatrical criticism, and to the encouragement and improvement of theatre in Greater Los Angeles.

The 33rd Annual Robby Awards for Excellence in Los Angeles Area Theatre were presented by long time theatre critic Rob Stevens at a laugh and song-filled evening at Sterling’s Upstairs at the Federal in North Hollywood on Monday, February 4. Linda Hart and Bruce Kimmel co-hosted the show which featured performances by nominated actors Eileen Barnett, Erica Hanrahan-Ball, Ashley Fox Linton, Cassandra Marie Murphy, Jeffrey Scott Parsons, Jenna Lea Rosen, Shaunte Tabb Massard and Robert Yacko from their shows. Former Robby Award winner Jane A. Johnston also delivered a dramatic rendition of “The Ladies Who Lunch”. Other previous Robby Award winners Belinda Balaski, Carole Cook, Richard Doyle, John Iacovelli, Michael Kearns and Tom Troupe also presented awards. Cook had the audience roaring with laughter at her take down of Stevens and her reactions to her husband Troupe’s comments.

Hollywood’s Celebration Theatre was the big winner of the night, taking home nine awards—five for PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT and four for CABARET. CABARET tied for Best Musical of the year with Me + You Productions’s SPRING AWAKENING. Hollywood’s The Fountain Theatre’s production of THE CHOSEN won Best Drama as well as two other awards while Pasadena’s A Noise Within’s production of NOISES OFF was named Best Comedy. Twenty-two productions at sixteen different Los Angeles venues won awards.

May 3, 2016…Laguna Beach, Calif…Laguna Playhouse Board of Directors announced today that, later this month, Ellen Richard will be joining Laguna Playhouse as its Interim Executive Director. The Playhouse announced late last year that it was undertaking a national search guided by Arts Consulting Group (ACG) for an Executive Director to succeed Karen Wood who had held this position for the past eight years.

Commenting on the appointment Joe Hanauer and Paul Singarella, Co-Chairmens of the Board of Directors, said “In the midst of our search we encountered this wonderful opportunity to engage Ellen while we continue to seek appropriate long-term leadership. To have found someone with the extraordinary qualifications that Ellen has is thrilling. She is the recipient of six Tony Awards as producer at New York’s Roundabout Theatre Company where she was Managing Director. Ellen also has strong successes in supervising the construction of theatres in New York and also in San Francisco at the American Conservatory Theater, a rare and valuable skill set considering the contemplated major remodel and expansion of the Laguna Playhouse.” Laguna Playhouse Artistic Director Ann E. Wareham adds, “We are pleased and proud to have Ellen Richard, truly a rock-star in our field, join us as our interim Executive Director who will help guide the Playhouse during this transition.” Comments Ellen Richard, “I have quickly grown fond of Laguna Beach and the Playhouse. I embrace this extraordinary opportunity to join one of the country’s top regional theatres at this time in its remarkable 95-year history. I look forward to helping the Playhouse and working with their incredible Board of Trustees and Ann E. Wareham.”

ABOUT ELLEN RICHARD

Ellen Richard served as Executive Director of the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco from 2010 through 2015. During her tenure, Ms. Richard negotiated a deal to buy the Strand Theater in tech corridor of Mid-Market San Francisco, helped raise the $34,000 million to renovate and operate it and steered the design and construction for the project which opened in May of 2015. The complex featured two performance spaces and has won multiple awards. She opened the 50 seat Costume Shop Theater, a 49-seat “black box” venue used for the company’s Master of Fine Arts students and for shows by other local companies. Ms. Richard was also credited with expanding the company’s educational efforts, coming up with programs like the San Francisco Semester, which brings undergraduate acting students to ACT from around the world, and Stage Coach, a community theater mobile unit that reaches into diverse neighborhoods

She was also Executive Director of The Second Stage Theatre in New York City. During her tenure at Second Stage, which began in 2006 (through 2009), she was responsible for the purchase contract of the Helen Hayes Theatre, growth in subscription income of 48 percent, and growth in individual giving of 75 percent, as well as conceptualization of a highly successful gala format and “Second Generation,” a giving program through which donors enable deserving New York City youth to experience live theater. Under Ms. Richard’s leadership, Second Stage provided the initial home for the Broadway productions Everyday Rapture, Next to Normal, and The Little Dog Laughed.

From 1983 to 2005, Ms. Richard enjoyed a rich and varied career with Roundabout Theatre Company. The Roundabout that Ms. Richard joined was a small nonprofit theater company in bankruptcy. By the time she departed as Managing Director, Roundabout had become one of the country’s largest and most successful theater companies of its kind, with net assets in excess of $67 million dollars. Ms. Richard is the recipient of six Tony Awards as producer, for Roundabout productions of Cabaret (1998), A View from the Bridge (1998), Side Man (1999), Nine (2003), Assassins (2004), and Glengarry Glen Ross (2005). As producer of more than 125 shows at Roundabout, she had direct supervision of all management and marketing functions. She created Roundabout’s “Theatre-PLUS” programs, which include singles, teachers, family, gay and lesbian, wine tasting, and the 7 p.m. “Early Curtain” series, all of which grew to represent more than 10 percent of Roundabout’s 40,000 subscribers.

As director of design and construction at Roundabout, Ms. Richard was responsible for more than $50 million of theater construction for 11 projects. She conceptualized the three permanent Roundabout stages — The Broadway venues of Studio 54 and the American Airlines Theatre, and the Off-Broadway venue The Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre She directed the location search for Cabaret and oversaw the creation of the production’s environmental Kit Kat Klub. Prior to her tenure at Roundabout, Ms. Richard served as business manager of Westport Country Playhouse, theater manager for Stamford Center for the Arts, and business manager for Atlas Scenic Studio. She began her career working as a stagehand, sound designer, and scenic artist assistant.